Halloween is an autumn holiday that Americans celebrate every year.It means "holy evening," and it comes every October 31,the evening before All Saints' Day.However,it is not really a church holiday,it is a holiday for children mainly.
Every autumn,when the vegetables are ready to eat,children pick large orange pumpkins.Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put a burning candle inside.It looks as if there were a person looking out of the pumpkin!These lights are called jack-o'-lanterns,which means "Jack of the lantern".he Celtic people,who lived more than 2000 years ago feared the evening of Oct.31 more than any other day of the year.It was the eve of their festival of Samhain.Samhain was a joyful harvest festival that marked the death of the old year and the beginning of a new one.The day itself was a time for paying homage to the sun god Baal who had provided the people with the ripened grain for use in the upcoming winter.Come evening evil spirits were everywhere.Charms and spells were said to have more power on the eve of Samhain.Several rituals were performed by the Celtic priests,Druids,to appease the Lord of the Dead.
